I recently attended a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) presentation that really didn’t drive home and people hated it. Many, if not all, of the factors listed below made it a fruitless exercise for the presenters. Sad of all is that some of us had to drive a long distance just to listen to the same old story of MLM.

With the experience I have with MLM, the likes of QuestNet, I sensed the following 8 points to be major contributors to why the prospects didn’t respond positively.

  1. MLM is common for deceptive invitations. The invitation involved a lot of lies about the content of the presentation. It came to many as an internet marketing presentation to assist academics do their work better. In actual fact, deception seems to rule MLM. Often times the presenters would portray too much success on their part while visible indicators don’t support the claims. For example, a self proclaimed high earner would be dressed in ordinary clothes, driving a not so rich people’s car, not owning the house they stay in, not buying the attendants some good meal, etc.
  2. MLM is not sustainable in the short run for those that join the scheme late. Introducers and first runners can benefit but those that join late stand high chances to fail, making prospects sceptic about their chances of survival.
  3. MLM reputation is not a good one. People loose a lot of money to individuals and sometimes the government intervenes by stopping the activities.
  4. MLM demands a lot of effort to make it work and you often look stupid pursuing it. It would often call for full time pursuit, and thus most recommended for the unemployed.
  5. Common MLM initiatives are foreign owned and demand the use of foreign currency, commonly US Dollars.
  6. The internet is not a very common service in our communities and people often have to rely on others to make their MLM business work, which many don’t really like.
  7. The tendency to renounce other similar schemes and claim that they cannot match their standard makes it more untrustworthy. Generally, a business that joins players in the market would not want to relate to specific competitors but simply portray their advantage over rivalry.
  8. No free lunch holds for every initiative. People become sceptic of an idea that promotes free benefits or rather much less effort for high gains. It often seems impractical and much of a lie as a too good to be true initiative often is.

 

These are just surface issues with African community perceptions with MLM businesses. For the experienced, the reasons could even be more. Yet, MLM is a legitimate method of promoting products but no can risk taking such a business unless they feel strongly about it. I actually did an intensive study on what makes MLM work and what fails it. For now I’m working at publishing a hard copy of the e-book ‘Making Money with Offline and Online MLM’, readily downloadable in the ‘Products’ page.

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